


Omphalos

by MarcusRowland



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Oz - Baum, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Gen, Genocide, Podfic Welcome, Religion, Theology
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-11-01
Updated: 2003-11-01
Packaged: 2017-10-09 03:30:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 21,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/82544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarcusRowland/pseuds/MarcusRowland
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Key comes out of the Wormhole. Then things get weird...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a Buffy / Star Trek: Deep Space Nine crossover. It's set during the last series of DS9, the exact time isn't important, and a few years after the final episode of BtVS. There have been so many changes to Star Trek canon that I've lost track of the precise historical background of Deep Space Nine, apologies if I mention anything that shouldn't be part of the last series or the history described in it.
> 
> One of the inspirations for this story was Tara Keezer's story "Stupid Portal", others were Jennifer Oksana's "Real, More or Less" and Roz Kaveney's "Forgiven." I hope that none of them will feel too insulted by what follows.
> 
> The Oz crossover is mostly in the epilogue, though mentioned much earlier in the story.
> 
> All characters belong to their respective creators / film companies / etc. and are used without permission. This story may only be distributed on a non-profit-making basis.

"Deep Space Nine to Defiant, we're detecting wormhole activity. Can you see any ships from your position?"

"Negative. Scanning the vicinity... all our instruments are going crazy... wait a moment, we're picking up life signs, looks like a human in some sort of force field pod... already through the mine field without setting anything off. We're closing to transporter range..."

"Defiant, this is Sisko, please report."

"Worf to Deep Space Nine. We've picked up what looks like an unconscious human woman inside a force field bubble, it's just come out of the wormhole. No obvious source for the force field. I believe that there are signs of hypoxia; her lips have a blue tint."

"Can you get through the force field and transport her out?"

"Trying to find the frequency now, Captain Sisko.... we have it, but it seems to be being generated by her body or possessions, when we tried to transport her out the force field came with her."

"Transport oxygen in and carbon dioxide out."

"An excellent idea, Captain."

"Doctor Bashir wants a word."

"Go ahead, Doctor."

"I want you to get a hypospray of tri-ox compound, adjust the dosage for her apparent mass plus fifty percent to allow for wastage and transport the contents into the air inside the force field near her mouth and nostrils. Don't worry too much about the exact dosage, it can't do her much harm. It's better intravenously, but it should help her if she inhales it."

"At once, Doctor... Yes, I believe that it is working, her lips already have a more normal colour."

"Get her back here and into sick bay."

* * * * *

"Human. What do you make of her clothes?" asked Ezri Dax. "They look odd."

"I'm not surprised you don't recognise them," said Julian Bashir, running a tricorder up and down the force field bubble and staring at the unconscious girl inside, floating a few inches above the bed, "although you've seen their predecessors in the holosuite."

"Twentieth century Earth?"

"Yes, but much later than the period I normally play in. The lower garment is a pair of jeans, made of a fabric called denim, the upper garment is a tank top made of a cotton-acrylic mixture, part natural and part synthetic. Bare midriff, small silver studs through the flesh in her navel and ear lobes, bracelet of various beads and knotted cord on one wrist, some sort of device on the other." He waved the tricorder near her again. "I'm picking up faint electrical signals at fifty thousand cycles, I'd say a quartz-oscillation timepiece, crude but reasonably accurate. Incidentally, those boots are made of real leather, not a synthetic. Given that and the timepiece I'm reasonably sure the clothes are genuine. Casual street clothing for a warm climate."

"Leather? Cured animal hides? Barbaric."

"Considering the combination of garments and ornaments I'd say late twentieth, early twenty-first, Europe or the USA or one of the other westernized nations, not long before the Eugenics Wars."

"What else do you make of her?"

"Late teens or early twenties, I'd guess the former. Attractive, excellent physical condition, hmm, fused ceramic plugs in three teeth. That'd be symptomatic of dentistry in that era." He ran the tricorder down her body. "I'm picking up faint well-healed scarring on her abdomen and arms... the arm wounds could be the result of a failed suicide attempt."

"Recent?"

"No, they're at least five years old."

"What's that around her neck?"

"A silver chain, goes to something under her clothing. Let's see," he ran the tricorder again, "ends in a cross. A Christian, don't see many of them these days."

"That's the religion with the three-in-one god, isn't it?"

"That's right."

"You humans are weird. What about her medical condition?"

"Signs of hypoxia, already fading thanks to the tri-ox compound. There shouldn't be any permanent damage. Neural signs and her blood chemistry say natural sleep rather than a coma."

The door slid open. Benjamin Sisko entered sick bay and said "Sorry to have been so long, we've been having some communications problems. We've only just got back into contact with Bajor, and the outer planets are still out of contact."

"I'm beginning to think that she might be a time traveller, could that explain it?"

"Not really, there was no chronometric radiation signature, or anything that could disrupt comms on that scale."

"Defiant had instrument problems when we picked her up, now you're saying that something took out communications and they're only beginning to come back. How long does it take for light to get from the wormhole to Bajor?"

"About the time it took for communications to resume. Yes, you're right, it sounds like some sort of interference began when our visitor came out of the wormhole, propagating at the speed of light. Is she still unconscious?"

"Shouldn't be too long now," said Julian. "She's in natural sleep, probably needs it."

Captain Sisko moved to where he could see her and said "What _is_ she?"

"Captain?"

"You said she was human. That's not human, I'm not sure what it is."

"Captain, I don't understand. She's human, as far as we can tell by tricorder."

"I'm seeing... well, I see the girl, but there's something else. A knot of green energy, vast power overlaying the human body."

"I'm not picking anything up."

"The last time I saw something like that was when an Organian came through the station."

"Maybe we should get a security team down here. Sick Bay to Odo..."

"Odo here."

"Captain Sisko thinks the girl we picked up may actually be something else in disguise. He's seeing some sort of energy being, we need a security team."

"On my way."

"Can you give her a stimulant?" asked Sisko. "I think we need a few answers."

"Not easily," said Julian, "not through a force screen. It needs to go into a vein. Let me try something else."

He fiddled with his medical transporter and a few drops of water materialised inside the bubble, just above the girl's face. She stirred and blinked, as she did so the force field around her vanished and she fell a few inches to the bed and said "What the hell?"

"Are you feeling all right?" asked Julian, checking her with his tricorder again and still seeing nothing but a human girl.

"I guess so. A little tired. Wow, next time I look before I leap. Where am I?"

"This is Federation space station Deep Space Nine, you're in the sick bay. I'm Doctor Julian Bashir, this is Lieutenant Ezri Dax and Captain Benjamin Sisko. I can give you a stimulant if you think you need it."

"Umm.. yeah, I think I might, I kinda want to doze off again." He gave her a minimal dose with a spray hypo, and she said "Nope, still kinda... hey, that stuff has Jolt Cola beat, not so tired after all."

"That's good. Can you tell us who you are and how you got here?"

"I guess." She sat up and looked around. "Did you say Federation?"

"That's right," said Sisko, "The United Federation of Planets."

"Oh.. okay, let me just check something, are there aliens called Vulcans and Klingons around somewhere?"

"Of course. The Vulcans are amongst the founding members of the Federation, the Federation and Klingon Empire are allies."

"Holy crap. Okay... that kinda checks out with what I remember."

"You know who they are?" asked Sisko.

"Kinda. Okay," she said, guessing that he wasn't entirely happy with the situation, "I guess I know that you're the good guys, and you look like you want an explanation."

"It would be useful."

"My name's Dawn Summers and I'm from another dimension."

"Really."

"Okay, not that easy to believe I know, but it's true."

"If you're from another dimension how do you know about this one?" asked Julian.

"This is where it gets kinda tricky. In my world this is a TV show."

"A what?" asked Ezri.

"TV show. Fiction. Except that to you guys it's real, isn't it?"

Odo arrived with two of his men and Dawn stared at him and said "Alien. Wow... I guess it's real for me too."

* * * * *

"Let me see if I understand this correctly," said Sisko. "You're from the twenty-first century and a universe where _magic_ works and you've been travelling from one dimension to another. Why?"

"I'm trying to find out where I really come from,'" said Dawn. "Look, this is something I don't usually talk about but I think I remember enough about you that I can trust you. I need to ask you to keep it to yourselves."

"Very well," said Sisko, "unless it involves the safety of this station or the Federation."

"I don't think so. How about the rest of you?"

"You're my patient," said Julian, "I won't discuss your private affairs lightly."

"And I'm a counsellor," said Ezri, "I think you'd call it a therapist, there is similar confidentiality."

"As the captain said," said Odo, "you have my word unless it involves the safety of the station or Federation."

"And those guys by the door," said Dawn, "the guards. Sorry, didn't get your names."

Both seemed a little surprised to be consulted, but promised to cooperate.

"Okay." said Dawn. "Well, It's a little strange."

"We're used to strangeness," said Ezri.

"I'm trying to find out what I was before I became human."

"You haven't always been human?"

"Originally there was this... this thing, that they called the Key. It's made out of green energy. I think it was alive even in that form, but I'm not entirely sure. Anyway, there was a mad goddess after it, she wanted to use it to rip a hole between dimensions to go home. The monks that were guarding it knew that if that happened, if she just opened the way and left it open, it'd destroy all the universes, they'd kinda bleed together until there was nothing left. So they tried to hide it from her and used magic to make it into me."

"You look human enough to me," said Odo.

"I am human. They made me out of my sister as a kinda magical clone and gave her and everyone else memories to make them think I'd always been there. Hell, I didn't even know myself. But there's this green swirly light thing inside me, part of me, I can tap into it a little, just enough to travel between dimensions, but only madmen and snakes can see it."

"Really.." said Sisko dryly.

"Really. Can't exactly prove it, but it's true."

"Oh, I'm inclined to believe you. It happens that I can see it quite clearly."

"You're... I guess you've got some snake blood, is it like genetic engineering or something?"

"That's tactful of you. Actually some of my peers consider me a little insane. I had an experience which left me with occasional visions, I'd imagine that it's letting me see you for what you are. There's also the matter of your surviving several minutes in vacuum, which would tend to support your story."

"That's a bummer, my sister had a friend in high school who got something like that, she got prophetic visions combined with migraines like you wouldn't believe. Ended up ascending as a higher being. As for the vacuum thing, that's probably this protective charm Willow gave me." She held up the bead bracelet she was wearing.

"Willow?"

"She's a witch, the most powerful one in my world. Gave me the charm when she couldn't talk me out of making this trip. My sister doesn't even know, she thinks I'm visiting dad in Los Angeles before my next semester at college."

"A witch?" asked Odo, "that's translating for me as a wise woman who uses magic? Is that correct?"

"That's right. Hey, that's strange, you're using some sort of translating computer, right?"

"That's right. It's embedded in my body."

"I don't have one, how come I'm understanding you? And how come your lips seem to be in sync with what you're saying? Oh, I guess it must be part of Willow's spell. Anyway, she's really good at magic, best there is."

"You said earlier that to you our world is fiction," said Julian, "how is that possible?"

"I've been through seven dimensions now, this is the second one where things were like some sort of story I'd seen or read."

"What was the first?"

"Oz. No sex, no swearing, flying freaking monkeys. I stayed just long enough to make sure that they didn't know anything about me then beat it out of there."

"Oz?" asked Sisko, "as in 'The Wizard of Oz'? Evil witches and Glinda the Good"

"That's right. Anyway, that world seemed to be based on fiction, or the fiction was based on that world, I guess the same thing's true here. Maybe the authors in our world somehow tap into this one for ideas."

"So how much do you actually know about us?"

"Not a huge amount, I wasn't a great fan of the show. Saw a few episodes, all I can remember is that there was this cute black kid and that the guy who ran the bar sounded like my sister's high school principal. You guys look familiar, especially you," she gestured towards Odo, "and you're that kid's dad, aren't you?" she said to Sisko. "I don't really understand that, why would you guys look like the actors in my world? The only one who doesn't is you," she said, gesturing towards Ezri, "I remember the woman who had spots like that was taller."

"That would be Jadzia Dax," said Ezri, "my predecessor."

"You got her job?"

"In a way I am her. Jadzia was killed, her symbiote was put into this body."

"Oh... that must have been in an episode I didn't see. It's a shame Andrew or Xander isn't here, they know everything about the show."

"Including how the war develops?"

"War?"

"With the Dominion and the Cardassians."

"I don't really know much about those guys. Were the Cardassians the ones that looked kinda like G'thotn'k demons?"

"Demons?" asked Sisko, accessing his PADD and pulling up a picture of a Cardassian to show her.

"My world has demons. Mostly they're big trouble, really bad news." She looked at the picture. "Yeah, those are the guys I was thinking of. I know that they're the bad guys, that's about it."

"We're currently at war with the Cardassian empire and the Dominion, which is another empire based on the far side of the wormhole you came from."

"Great.. I guess that makes me a security problem for you, 'cos I could be lying about everything. I could even be one of these Dominion guys, I guess, you guys have pretty good cosmetic surgery if I'm remembering it right."

"Your memory is correct, but you aren't a Dominion spy," said Odo. "Unfortunately my species rules the Dominion. I would know one of my own kind, regardless of disguise, and any of the Dominion's servitor races would react to me very differently."

"That's reassuring. Anyway, the way it works is that I kinda sense places where a dimensional gate can be opened and feel for some sort of power that might be able to help me, if I'm picking up something like that I open the portal and slip through, it shuts behind me. It's all instinctive, I don't really know how I do it. But I wasn't expecting to come out in space."

"You must have sensed the Prophets," said Sisko. "They're a race of non-linear beings, immensely powerful, living inside the wormhole."

"Guess they didn't want to talk to me," Dawn said gloomily.

"Or they did and you aren't remembering it yet. Or they wished to be sure of your safety before talking to you. They've been known to visit this station."

"Okay. Do you mind if I stick around for a while, see if anyone shows up? The other dimensions I've visited the powerful guys usually knew I was there pretty fast. Not always a good thing, that's how I lost my luggage and weapons, I had to move fast a couple of worlds ago. Is there some way I could buy something like that while I'm here? Umm... I don't have any of your money with me, but maybe there's something I could trade. Or I could wash dishes or something."

"Information is probably your best currency, anything you can tell us about the worlds you've visited and dimensional travel. We won't be able to let you have anything technologically advanced, it probably wouldn't be good for your world."

"I remember that much, the Prime Directive thing. I can live without high tech and the only weapons I'm good with are swords and crossbows... Oh, and I've used a TASER and a rifle firing tranquiliser darts."

"You fence?" asked Julian.

"Not with rapiers, and not for sport. Something like a broadsword with a sheath and belt would be good. Look, assuming for now that you're going to give me some credit, is there any way I can get a shower then something to eat?"

"Certainly," said Sisko. "Look after her. We'll resume in my office at fifteen hundred hours."


	2. Chapter 2

"... and a medium rare Terran fillet steak with all the trimmings for the little lady," said Quark, noting their orders on his PADD.

Dawn looked at the alien, giggled, and said "I'm kinda taller than you, actually."

"But I'm meaner."

"Don't bet on it. I've had vampires running scared of me."

"Computer," said Odo, "I'd like a diagnostic on the translation circuit in this room. Miss Summers, I'm sorry, I think that there must be something wrong, that came out as..."

"As undead blood-sucking monsters? That's right. They're a problem in my universe." Quark was suddenly listening much harder. "They're stronger, faster and tougher than humans. My sister has supernatural strength and speed to fight them, I didn't get that but I picked up a few tricks."

"You're from another universe?" asked Quark. "Interested in opening trade negotiations?"

"I can only transport myself, not cargo, and I doubt we have much you'd be interested in buying anyway."

"Miss Summers is from an alternative version of Earth," said Odo, "more advanced than the version you visited when you time-travelled, but still relatively primitive by our standards."

"And we have some really nasty monsters that this universe seems to be missing," said Dawn, "demons, vampires, werewolves, that sort of thing, so you might want to leave us quarantined. Now about this food..."

"On it's way," said Quark, heading back towards the bar. "Nobody's interested in turning a profit," he muttered, "how's a Ferengi supposed to make a living..."

"Oh.. my.. god," giggled Dawn, "he sounds exactly like Principal Snyder used to, the couple of times I met him. Looks a little like him too, apart from the ears and sharp teeth. It's so weird."

"After we've eaten," said Ezri, "we'll buy you some clothes and arrange guest quarters. With the war on there isn't a huge range in the shops, but we ought to be able to find something you'll like."

"What will you need?" asked Odo.

"Well, I could use a couple of changes of clothes, underclothes, a jacket, something like leather or tough fabric, and some sort of back-pack to carry everything. Apart from that it'd be great if I could get a sword and a crossbow and something like a hunting knife if you've got them, a sleeping bag, a tent, bottled water, camping rations, that sort of thing. How can I pay for it all?"

"Actually the Federation don't use money any more," said Ezri, "except at outposts like this and when dealing with other cultures, but it has deep pockets. We'll be happy to help you. Of course anything you can tell us about the worlds you visited, magic, and so forth would be greatly appreciated."

"Sure. What do you want to know?"

"Why don't you start with your own world, tell us about that, it sounded interesting and it's probably a good starting point for everything else."

"Okay. Let's see... I was born in LA in eighty-five. No, that's what I remember as being true, not what is. I was created in Sunnydale in two thousand, with the memories of having been born in eighty-five."

"Why don't you stick to life as you remember it, it'll probably save time in the long run."

"Okay, sounds good to me. Well, I was just a normal kid until ninety-five, when my sister Buffy was having a lot of trouble... she was staying out late, getting into fights, that sort of thing. What none of us knew was that she'd been called as the Slayer..."

* * * * *

"What do you think?" Odo asked while Dawn was trying on clothes and Ezri was helping her choose. "She doesn't seem to be a threat, although I've a squad standing by in case we're mistaken."

"She seems genuine," said Julian, "I haven't noticed any contradictions apart from the conflict between real and implanted memories she's mentioned a few times. If it wasn't for the Captain's vision and her own version of events I'd be sure that she was nineteen as she says. But the world she describes... it'd make a great holodeck setting, but I'd hate to live there."

"And she's really telling the truth?"

"I had a tricorder on her while we were in Quark's, unless she has uncannily good biofeedback control she didn't tell any lies, except when Quark asked her if she'd enjoyed her meal."

"She didn't?"

"She wasn't as enthusiastic as she pretended. She's from an era when they routinely ate real meat, not replicated protein, I suspect that she can tell the difference."

"Disgusting."

"Don't knock it until you've tried it," said Julian.

"When you said she told the truth... the things she said about her sister were true? And her friend the witch?"

"They're true, or at least she believes them to be true."

"Then the sister would be at least as strong as a Klingon," said Odo, "and the witch as powerful as one of the Q."

"We're talking about the sister of a girl who can apparently cross dimensions by an act of will and a witch who somehow enabled her to survive in deep space using a bead bracelet as her only protection. And before you ask, I scanned it, it really is just made of beads and cord. No energy signature I could detect."

"Well, at least things are quiet today, gives us time to deal with it."

"I was just thinking that myself. Maybe too quiet..."

"Hmmm..." Odo touched his comm badge and said "Odo to control, weren't we expecting a Klingon battlecruiser some time today?"

_"Yes sir, the Glorious Slaughter. She should have checked in an hour ago, and ought to be docking about now."_

"Where is she then?"

_"Unknown, sir. There's still a communications blackout on anything more than three light-hours away. No signals in either direction."_

"I see. Keep me informed. Odo out."

* * * * *

"This fabric is amazing," said Dawn, trying a silvery tunic top, "so soft. Same for the underwear."

"It's replicated from a natural Bajoran fibre. I don't think we'd have any problems with you taking it back to your world, there are no technological tricks involved other than the replication itself and the fibre is similar to silk."

"And I can have it any colour I want?"

"If I were you I'd go for a light blue," said Ezri, "I think it'd go well with your complexion."

"You have great taste."

"I'm cheating. Dax has been a guy as often as he's been a girl, and he knows what he liked to see when he was a guy."

"Oh.. right, I'd kinda forgotten that."

"I'm sorry, am I embarrassing you?"

"No, it's okay, Willow's gay and she must have seen me undressed dozens of times, if that doesn't bother me you shouldn't."

"Willow's happy?"

"Oh, I guess that didn't translate well. Sorry, shouldn't use slang. She's a lesbian. Prefers women to men."

"Ah, I see what you mean."

"Do you still have problems with that sort of thing in the Federation? Prejudice against homosexuals?"

"Prejudice?" Ezri looked shocked. "gender is so minor compared to species differences, anyone manifesting a prejudice on those grounds would probably be given therapy. Jadzia married a Klingon, you can imagine the problems they had. If she'd chosen another Trill of either sex I doubt anyone would have noticed."

"I haven't met a Klingon yet. What are they like?"

"Fierce proud warriors, loyal friends if they aren't planning to betray you."

"You like them."

"I've spent a lot of time with them in different lives. As I said, I married one the last time around. Commander Worf, he recovered you from the wormhole."

"You were his wife, doesn't he..."

"He took a while to get over it and really take in that I'm not Jadzia but he's fine with it now, we're working all right as friends. I think."

"I really need to thank him for rescuing me. Is there something I could get him, a present of some sort?"

"If you want to make Worf's day just buy him a drink and ask his advice about the weapons you want to buy. He'll keep you talking for an hour and try to sell you on getting a bat'leth but if you can get past that he's pretty good on sword metallurgy and adjusting the weight and balance for the user."

"A bat'leth's one of those curved two-handed things with the grips in the middle, isn't it?" asked Dawn, considering a sari-like dress with a grey moire pattern then rejecting it in favour of a pair of skin-tight trousers made of the same silky fibre.

"That's right, how did you... oh, the fiction you mentioned."

"There's a couple of swordsmiths in our world that've tried making bat'leths, my sister had one for a while. She kinda liked it, but it was too hard to conceal. I could never get the hang of using it. These days she's got the Scythe anyway, that's kinda similar but a lot more useful against demons."

"You'll have to draw it for Worf, he'll probably want to have one made."

"Sure, but it's a magical weapon and you need Slayer speed and strength to use it properly."

"Klingons are fairly strong, he might surprise you."

"Okay... I think I'm done here, if I can get another pair of these trousers in the dark gold and the rest of the underclothes and stuff they've put aside for me. I'd like the dress too, but it's not really suitable for hiking and it's gonna crease if I put it in a backpack."

"Crease?" Ezri seemed to be listening to something only she could hear. "Oh, no, it won't do that. You could tie it in a knot and leave it for a month and that wouldn't happen."

"Was that the translator there?"

"Yes, it had to explain the concept to me, modern cloth just doesn't do that."

"Okay. It'd be nice if I get to go out on the town somewhere, will it cost too much if I'm greedy and have it?"

"I doubt it. You don't need any alterations so they'll just be replicated to your order. Just costs a little power and that's not expensive."

"How do I pay?"

"You have a line of credit, just say your name and press your thumb to the PADD when they ask you."

"Great. I could get to like this, I hope you'll think I'm worth it."

"Don't worry about it, the Captain has a generous budget for entertaining guests."

"Okay... I wonder what the jewellery is like here... only kidding."

"Better not push your luck."

When they came out of the shop Julian was still waiting and Odo had been joined by a security team.

"What's the problem?" asked Ezri.

"There are four ships overdue since Miss Summers arrived and all communications outside the immediate vicinity are still down. The problem began when she came through the wormhole. The Captain wants to see her right away."

"But I haven't _done_ anything," said Dawn.

"I'm sure that's true," said Odo, "but you must admit it is an odd coincidence. The Captain wants to ask you a few questions, he's wondering if there was something about the method you used to enter our universe that might have caused it."

"I can't think of anything," Dawn said nervously, "but I guess it's possible. How can we find out?"

"I'm not sure, but I'd imagine the Captain will have some ideas. He's in the control room, please follow me."

* * * * *

"We've been through this three time now," said Ezri, "and I still don't see what the problem is. Why won't you tell us how you activate the dimensional transfer?"

"Because there's a good reason not to," said Dawn, looking around the control room and noticing that most of crew there seemed tense.

"Let me ask something," said Julian. "Is it that the method could endanger you in some way?"

"uh.. yes."

"Does it have something to do with your scars?"

"Scars?" asked Captain Sisko.

"I thought you said medical confidentiality," Dawn said bitterly.

"Sometimes..." began Julian, but was interrupted.

"There's no sometimes about it," said Sisko. "She's your patient. Leave it."

There was an awkward silence, then Dawn said "It's my blood."

"What's your blood?" asked Sisko.

"If you don't force me to tell you... I think I can trust you with it. My blood opens portals. A few drops spilled in the right place will do it, enough for me to get through."

"And the scars?"

"I told you some of it already. When I was fifteen a bunch of demon cultists wanted to open a gateway for their god, so she could leave my world and get home. Something as powerful as a god needs a lot more than a few drops. They were going to bleed me to death to open the way. My sister saved me."

"Why your blood?" asked Julian, "It tests perfectly normal."

"It's some sort of magical life force deal," said Dawn, "as near as Willow could figure it, my blood is symbolic of the Key. You have to understand, a lot of magic is symbolism and intentions. But that's about all the explanation I can give you, I really don't understand it myself. It's one of the things I was hoping to find out on this trip."

"So someone could take a few drops of your blood to one of these weak spots you mentioned and it would open?"

"No, it has to be me bleeding. The blood on its own won't do it."

"You've tried?" asked Odo, surprised.

"Willow was a science nerd before she got into magic, she favours the experimental method. We tried quite a few things. It has to be me bleeding at exactly the right place. And I have no idea how I sense the right place."

"And once you've bled?" asked Sisko.

"I just step into the portal and find myself in a new world. There's a kinda rushing feeling and I'm there."

"What happens if you don't step through?"

"It closes in a few seconds. Usually nothing gets through first."

"Usually?"

"We got a weird little animal once, looked like a dopey rat. When we checked it carefully we found it was a marsupial, a little possum, had three babies in its pouch. We gave it to Cleveland zoo."

"From a world where evolution went differently?"

"Maybe, more likely the other side of the portal was somewhere like Australia. It turned out to be a species we have in our world, just not locally."

"How do you get back?"

"Open a portal and want to get home."

"That simple?"

"So far."

"Which takes us back to the question of how you find the portals."

"I just, I guess, know where they are."

"Can you point to the nearest one?"

"Sure," said Dawn, pointing up and to one side, towards a blank bulkhead. Sisko scanned her with his tricorder, looked at the display and whistled tunelessly. "Well?" asked Dawn.

"You just pointed directly at the wormhole, within five degrees or so."

"I could tell it wasn't close. There might be another one that way," she pointed again and Sisko took another reading, "but I'm not so sure about that one."

"And that's Bajor, the main inhabited world of this system."

"I think most inhabited worlds have a few portals. There are at least four in the USA alone on my version of Earth."

"Commander Worf for you, Captain," said one of the crewmen.

"Put him on the main screen."

A full-sized image of Worf appeared on one of the screens; Julian watched Dawn's face, and thought he saw a flicker of recognition. Worf said _"Captain, we are encountering an unusual problem."_

"What sort of problem?" asked Sisko.

_"As instructed we have been attempting to probe the boundary of the communications anomaly, and to travel outside it to restore contact with the battleship Glorious Slaughter and other overdue vessels. We have failed."_

"Failed?"

_"We can approach the boundary at transwarp speeds, but as soon as we reach it our real velocity drops to lightspeed, irrespective of the warp speed in use. We are unable to penetrate it."_

"You're dropping out of warp drive?"

_"No. We appear to be travelling at transwarp speed, but our real velocity drops to lightspeed. Or rather, to a maximum speed which keeps us just inside the boundary, which is travelling at lightspeed. We can achieve higher velocities if approach the boundary at an angle, but our outward velocity is limited to lightspeed."_

"Strange. Set a course for Bajor Nine, it should be inside the boundary in twenty-two minutes. See if the miners on the third moon have noticed anything odd going on, and check the automated observatory there for anomalies."

_"Acknowledged. Defiant out."_

Sisko turned back towards Dawn. "'Curiouser and curiouser, said Alice.' Are you quite sure you can't help us with this, Miss Summers?"

"Um, yeah, right, like I'm gonna know what's wrong with your warp drives. Two semesters of college so far, and I'm majoring in ancient languages and mythology. That doesn't exactly include a big chunk of twenty-fifth century theoretical physics."

"Twenty-fourth actually."

"Whatever."

"Very well. Am I right in thinking that you can't open a portal on this station?"

"That's right."

"Very well. Odo, Miss Summers is not to leave the station for now."

"What?" said Dawn.

"Miss Summers, I'm reasonably sure that we have you to thank for this problem. You may genuinely have no idea why, but I think it's probable that any solution will require the use of your powers. I can't risk losing you in another dimension before we have some answers."

"This sucks."

"I'm sorry. Please try to think of yourself as a guest, not a prisoner."

"Yeah, right. Boy, you guys change your tune in a hurry."

"Please give it some thought, Miss Summers, and if anything occurs to you my comm-link is always open. Odo, if you would escort Miss Summers to her quarters."

"Follow me, please," said Odo, turning to the turbolift. "By the way, what exactly does it suck?"


	3. Chapter 3

"I'm going nuts in here," said Dawn, looking around the spacious guest cabin she'd been assigned. "No printed books and I just don't like these PADD things, you won't let me look at most of the recent stuff on your network and most of the material on the twentieth century you've let me see is flat-out wrong."

"From what you've told me I'd guess that the history of your world and our Earth diverged in the nineteen-sixties," said Ezri, spooning some ice-cream into her mouth and chewing it thoughtfully, "your world seems to have had an easier time of it in many ways, apart from the monsters you've mentioned. As for the more recent material, much of it would violate the prime directive to some extent. What did you call this stuff again?"

"Peanut butter cookie ice cream."

"It's delicious."

"It'd be about a thousand calories a spoonful in my world, but your replicator can make it sugar and fat-free and still taste good."

"You were saying something about being driven insane?"

"Oh, there are compensations, the clothes and food are pretty good, I liked the holodeck game stuff Julian showed me and Worf's kinda cool once you show him you know something about weapons and metallurgy, but I've been here three days now and I've only got about another week before my sister will start to look for me. Always assuming that time runs at the same speed in this dimension, for all I know I've been here twenty years."

"How would she follow you?"

"Willow's good at a lot of things, but keeping a secret isn't one of them. If Buffy asks enough questions she'll spill the beans... sorry, slang again, she'll tell her where I went, then Buffy'll get Willow messing with the dark mojo to come after me."

"Why would that be a problem?"

"First, I don't know that I left a trail they could follow and they might get lost trying to find me. Second, I kinda promised Buffy I'd finish college before trying anything like this. And third, if Buffy and Willow do find their way here and you're still insisting I can't leave you'll be lucky if you still have a space-station left by the time they've finished."

"You have to understand that this isn't a joke to us," said Ezri. "This is an important military base and it's out of contact with the Federation, we're missing eight ships, and we have several hundred very anxious transients who expected to be en route to other systems by now."

"I know all that, but I just don't have anything to tell you. If I did do you think I'd be sitting here? I want to help, I just don't know how."

Ezri's comm badge beeped, and she said "Go ahead."

"Odo here. The Captain wants to see Miss Summers in his office."

"I'm with her now, we'll be right along."

"Finally," said Dawn. "Let's move it, maybe he's going to admit that I can't help."

"I doubt it," said Ezri, "but let's go and find out."

* * * * *

Captain Sisko stood with his back to his desk, looking out into space. As Dawn came in he said "We're in a mess. Please take a seat."

Dawn nervously sat down and picked up a baseball that seemed to have pride of place on the desk. Ezri sat to one side. There was a long pause, then Odo and Julian arrived.

"You like baseball, Miss Summers?" asked Sisko.

"Some, but I'm no expert."

"Effectively this system is completely isolated from the rest of the universe. The World Series began on Earth a couple of days ago, but unless we can solve this problem I'll never know the scores. That's a minor problem. Let me tell you about some of the major ones we're likely to encounter." He turned a monitor on his desk to face her and a hologram of the local star group appeared, a sphere centred on Bajor gradually growing and engulfing the system.

"All of the Bajor system is now enclosed by this... whatever it is. The miners and scientists on the outer worlds tell us that all communications with this station were lost at the moment you arrived. Unfortunately most communications from this system are relayed through this station, so they were unable to contact Starfleet and explain what's happening. So far we have no explanation for the missing ships. This is somewhat of a problem for us. There was one ship orbiting Bajor nine when this... thing... passed it, they reported no unusual problems so there seems no obvious reason why ships aren't entering the system. Given that this system has huge strategic importance we'd expect at least a token Federation force to investigate once we dropped out of contact. There's been nothing." He pressed a stud and the scale changed, showing more stars and a time scale of years.

"Assuming that this zone of.. whatever.. spreads at the speed of light and that no other ships enter it, it will be nineteen years before another Federation world enters it, several centuries before Earth is engulfed. Even in the short term we have a few problems, because the Cardassians smashed or looted Bajor's industries during the occupation and our current technological level is dependent on imports."

"I thought you replicated stuff," said Dawn.

"Replicators can't do everything. In particular, we can't replicate dilithium and this system has no has no natural sources, which means that most of our ships and the antimatter synthesis plant on this station will be out of action in the next three to four years. Doctor, have you prepared the medical report I requested?"

"Fourteen residents of this station are dependent on medication that can't be replicated and has to be imported from other parts of the Federation," said Julian, "Another thirty or so require diet supplements that can't be replicated and don't occur in Bajoran foods. Our records show medical imports that imply another two hundred to two hundred and fifty patients using offworld drugs elsewhere in the Bajoran system, maybe three times as many using diet supplements. Unless the Federation resumes supplies roughly a quarter will be dead or seriously ill within a year, the others will have their quality of life impaired to a greater or lesser extent."

"Ezri?"

"Assuming that nothing changes, most of the non-Bajorans in this system will be out of contact with their families for the rest of their lives. I guess I'm lucky, I'm not involved with anyone off-station, but if I die of old age before returning home Dax will die with me, a few hundred years before his time."

"Odo?"

"News of the problem has reached Bajor, of course, and the Bajoran isolationist movement is rapidly gaining strength; Kira is working with pro-Federation factions on Bajor, but there is a very real chance that the isolationists will force a referendum and that if they do so all Bajoran support for this station will be withdrawn. That means, amongst other things, that Bajor will be wide open to attack through the wormhole within six months, since the defensive fleet in place can't be maintained without the facilities that do exist on Bajor."

"How do you know that this isn't happening on the far side of the wormhole too?" asked Dawn.

"That's a very good point," said Sisko, "and it brings me to the matter I wished to raise with you. Miss Summers, we're running out of options here. If we take you to the wormhole, do you think that there is any chance that you might be able to fix things, or at least contact the Prophets and find out what's going on."

"I guess I can try."

"Are you prepared to give me your word that you won't leave before this problem is resolved?"

"If it can be resolved. If it can't, if there's nothing to be done, then I can't see what good staying here will do."

"Very well, will you give me your word that you won't leave before this problem is solved or we agree that it's insoluble?"

"I guess."

"Your word please, not just a guess."

"Yeah. You have my word."

"Very well then, let's visit the Prophets."

* * * * *

"We'll be travelling aboard Defiant," said Sisko, leading the way towards the turbolift, "she's powerful enough to fight off Jem'Hadar fighters or anything else the Dominion might throw at us and stealthy enough to get by if the odds are too high."

"Do you think that's likely?" Dawn asked nervously.

"We'll have to transit the wormhole, you can't just stop in the middle and go back the way you came unless the Prophets take a hand. We know a little about the deployment of Dominion forces on the far side, if you're right and they're having the same problems there will be no heavy units inside the affected zone." The lift opened at one of the docking bays, where Worf was waiting for them. "Even if you're wrong, if we simply check that idea then head straight back to the wormhole they shouldn't have time to throw any heavy units at us."

"Unless they're preparing for an attack anyway," Worf said cheerfully, leading the way towards the air lock. The massive door rolled to one side, and he ushered them into the docking tube that led to the Defiant.

"You don't sound too worried about it," said Dawn.

"The Dominion's leaders are over-cautious; they already have forces this side of the wormhole, they would rely on them for any attack. We may assume that they are also sealed out from the Bajoran system, or they would have attacked by now. As the Captain has said, we probably have nothing more to worry about than the slim chance of an encounter with a random patrol. They haven't deployed defences on anything like our scale." They came out of the tube into one of the starship's corridors. "Welcome aboard the Defiant, Miss Summers. I don't think you saw much of her last time, would you like the guided tour?"

"I've kinda got the idea that one metal corridor look pretty much like another metal corridor, and wouldn't you have to keep all of the cool stuff out of sight anyway?"

"Because of the prime directive? True. In any event, the journey should take less than an hour, it's probably best that we get started. Captain Sisko, would you care to join me on the bridge?"

"Of course. Miss Summers, you might as well come along too."

"Captain?" Worf asked with a note of surprise.

"If Miss Summers is right about the accuracy of the dramas she's seen we won't be giving away anything that endangers the prime directive. Even if she's wrong, the whole purpose of this flight is to get her to the Prophets. If she's worthy of their attention she should be treated appropriately."

"And if I'm not?"

"Then we lock you in the brig and throw the key away... A joke, Miss Summers, a joke."

"Har de har."

Worf led them to the bridge and Dawn looked around, shrugged, and said "okay, no chance of me learning anything useful from this stuff."

"Take this seat," said Worf, leading her to the relief navigator's console, "it won't be in use on such a short flight. Just don't touch any controls."

"What happens if I do?" she asked nervously.

"The ship will explode."

"It _what?"_

"Don't worry," said Sisko, sitting next to her. "It isn't active, you can't do any harm."

"Everyone's a comedian."

"You shouldn't have made those tribble jokes in Quark's last night," said Worf, then turned to the helmsman. "Take us out on thrusters, then quarter warp to the holding position on the edge of the minefield."

There was a hum of engines and on the viewscreen the station rapidly dropped away before the ship turned and headed towards the wormhole.

"You know," said Dawn, "I guess this is the first time I really realised we're in space. Wow..."

"The trip through the wormhole is more or less instantaneous," said Sisko, "but if the Prophets take an interest it will seem to last much longer. When I've met them they appeared to me as people I know, my parents and others, in familiar settings."

"Dead people?"

"Often."

"Sounds like the First Evil. Not a happy memory."

"Usually what I see is dreamlike and non-linear with scenes out of sequence, for example I might experience the end of a conversation before the beginning. Do you think you can handle that?"

"Only one way to find out."

"Coming up on the holding position," said the navigator. "Deactivation scheduled in one hundred seconds... ninety..."

Dawn felt the rising tension on the bridge, and began to grip the armrests of her seat so tightly that her knuckles turned white.

"...twenty ...ten ...deactivation confirmed."

"Shields up, full thrusters, take us through, we have thirty seconds."

The Defiant sprang forward, Dawn braced for acceleration but felt almost nothing, a tiny surge that probably owed more to imagination than to reality. Twice she thought she saw something metallic flash past, but the mines were gone before she could get a clear idea of their shape.

"And we're through," said the navigator, "wormhole in ten seconds... five.. four.. three.. two.. one..."

The stars seemed to streak past as a white mist, then there was a sudden stillness. Dawn and Sisko were standing on a ramshackle-looking steel gantry, high above the lights of a city. From below came the sounds of a fight. Dawn was tied to something, a metal frame, and wearing a long dress. Sisko moved towards her, but couldn't seem to get close. The green glow of the Key was overwhelmingly bright, almost blinding him to the girl.

"This isn't good," said Dawn.

"What is this place?"

"Sunnydale, the time they tried to sacrifice me."

"Scared?" asked a woman's voice from behind Sisko. "Sweetie, you should be."

"This isn't real," said Sisko, turning to face the blonde who stood behind him, "and neither is she."

"Hi Glory," said Dawn. "Back from the dead? Bet it's about as real as the First's little puppet show."

"Being alive?" said Glory "Or dead? It's like a phase girls like you and me go through. Being something else, that's the reality"

"So what's the else?"

"It's not the key. Key's only part of the word."

"It's all about power." Suddenly a different woman was standing there, younger and more attractive, wearing a leather jacket and cream trousers and holding a sword, and they were in a graveyard.

"Buffy..."

"You have it, you just don't know how to use it."

"Thanks, kinda knew that already."

"Can you help us learn?" asked Sisko.

"Maybe, if you can answer a question."

"What's the question?" asked Dawn.

There was another woman there, nearer to Sisko's age, and they were in some sort of house. To Sisko it looked primitive, but Dawn said "Mommy?"

"Was there a button on the first pumpkin?"

"Come on, mom."

"It's a question, you need to be able to answer it," said another woman, a blonde standing on stairs behind her.

"Tara... I guess I just don't understand."

"Lots of people gave it a lot of thought. You're the one that can answer it. You've just got to give the word."

"It's all Greek to me," said someone standing beside Sisko, a dark-haired young man wearing an eye patch.

And suddenly they were back on the bridge of the Defiant, new stars were on the screen, and someone was shouting "Enemy ship heading 330 by 114 range twenty-five thousand and closing."

"Active sensors!" said Worf.

"Fighter, Jem'Hadar type three on an attack run."

"Engage."

"Start making notes on your vision," said Sisko, "get it written down while it's fresh." He produced a PADD and began to write. Dawn shrugged, tried to ignore the flurry of orders and occasional lurches as the Defiant's shields soaked up enemy fire, and did her best to follow suit.

* * * * *

"The situation's exactly the same on the other side of the Wormhole," summarised Sisko, "a spherical region of space approximately eight light-days across expanding at the speed of light. As on this side it's impossible to exceed light speed at the boundary. The good news is that there are no heavy Dominion units inside the boundary so far; we were attacked by one Jem'Hadar fighter, there may have been others but even with active sensors we were unable to find any larger vessels."

"That isn't surprising," said Odo, "The Dominion always seems to rely on defence in depth, not a massive point defence as we're using here. Any heavy ships would be kept further back, ready to pounce once an attacking fleet was committed. It's usually a reasonably good tactic, for once it's worked in our favour."

"What about the visions you experienced," asked Ezri, "Did you really both see the same things? I thought every one was different."

"Exactly the same and much more coherent than usual, I think. Which suggests that it is extremely important. As to what it means... Miss Summers, would you like to talk us through."

"The first thing we saw was Glory, the god my sister fought, at the place where she tried to have me sacrificed to open a portal. She kinda confirmed that I'm more than just a girl, which isn't exactly news, then said that being the Key was only part of it. 'Only part of the word', whatever that means."

"Not much," said Odo.

"The next thing was Buffy, she said that it's all about power, that I have it and don't know how to use it. Again, not news. Then we got my mom and something that made no sense, something about was there a button on the first pumpkin."

"The first pumpkin..." mused Sisko, "does that ring any bells at all?"

"Well, we used to have hollow pumpkins with candles inside at Halloween, there was the Great Pumpkin in Peanuts, there was..."

"The great pumpkin in what?" asked Ezri.

"Peanuts. A comic strip, a kid in the story thought that there was a pumpkin god called the Great Pumpkin and wanted to worship it at Halloween. What else..? Harry Potter used to drink pumpkin juice, that's about it."

"Is Potter someone you know?" asked Julian.

"Another fictional character, I guess the books weren't published in your world."

"Any personal associations?" asked Ezri. "Did pumpkins mean something to you or you sister or mother?"

"No... wait a minute, yes. When I was little mom always used to call me her pumpkin belly."

"Which would explain the button reference," said Sisko, "belly button, an old term for the navel."

"So we have the navel. The first navel, does that make any sense?"

"That's not quite it," said Julian, "Go on, this is beginning to ring some sort of bell. I just wish I could remember what. Was anything else said?"

"Tara said something about a lot of people giving it a lot of thought and that I just had to give the word, then Xander.. Xander said it was all Greek to him. And that was it, doesn't help much."

There was a long baffled silence, then Julian said "Dawn, does the word Omphalos mean anything to you?"

"It sounds like it might be Greek, but I don't know what it means."

"I do. It means 'Navel'".

"And?"

"It's something that came up in the History of Science course when I was at university. On Earth the early Christian church had a long religious argument about whether or not God created Adam with a navel. Eventually the church ruled that even to discuss the idea was heresy."

"Why would that be heresy?" asked Sisko.

"The bible claimed that God had created Man in his own image, which by definition would be perfect. But since Adam was created, not born, he would have had no functional use for a navel. So God either created Adam with a navel, and thus functionally imperfect, or without a navel, and thus by definition all other men were not created in God's image."

"It sounds like you couldn't win," said Ezri.

"Exactly, that's why even discussing the idea was considered heretical."

"I don't get it." said Dawn, "What's this got to do with me?"

"That idea was known as Omphalos, and the word was eventually used as the title for a work of anti-evolutionary philosophy in the mid-nineteenth century. It was a ridiculous argument, or at least I used to think so. The idea was that God would have had to create the Earth as a fully-functional world, and that a fully-functional world would have all evidence that it had always existed; fossils, evidence of continuing geological processes, and so forth. Taken to its logical conclusion, God could have created the universe five minutes ago, complete with our memories and all evidence that it had existed since the big bang, and we wouldn't know any better."

"That's silly," said Dawn.

"I know," said Julian. "I think it may have happened a little less than four days ago."

They stared at him.

"Imagine that the universe was created with all evidence that it had existed for billions of years at the moment that Dawn arrived. Except that the creation isn't instantaneous; it begins where she arrived, inside the wormhole, and spreads from both ends at the speed of light. That would be fine if we were limited by lightspeed, we'd never know it was happening. Since we're not we're seeing things that seem odd. We can't get past the boundary because the universe doesn't exist outside the boundary. The ships we were expecting haven't arrived because they would have been a few light years away at the moment creation began and don't exist yet. I'm not sure what'll happen about that, my guess is that when creation over-runs those points we'll find evidence that they were destroyed in transit or diverted to another destination. There'll be some good reason why the Bajoran system has been isolated."

"It would explain why we look like the characters in your entertainments," Ezri said slowly, "and how you came to visit Oz."

"But I didn't know you!" protested Dawn.

"Are you absolutely sure you never saw any story set after Jadzia's death? I think that you said it was shown several years ago."

"No... no, I'm not sure."

"It feels... right somehow," said Sisko. "Do you know the bible at all, Miss Summers?"

"A little."

"How does it begin?"

"Uh... 'In the beginning was the..' Oh crap."

"'In the beginning was the word,' Miss Summers. Glory, or whichever Prophet took that role, said that the Key was only part of the word. Tara said that you just had to give the word. What if they were speaking literally?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The anti-evolutionary theory described above was proposed by the naturalist and philosopher Philip Henry Gosse (1810-1888) in his book _Omphalos: An Attempt to Untie the Geological Knot_ [1857]. It's inherently unprovable and from the outset was disliked even by creationists; by definition it leaves the world looking exactly like a world in which evolution has taken place and implies an elaborate hoax perpetrated by God.
> 
> The idea is occasionally used in science fiction and fantasy; see especially Robert A. Heinlein's _They_ [1941] and _Job: A Comedy Of Justice_ [1984], Philip Jose Farmer's _The Maker Of Universes_ [1965], and Terry Pratchett's _Strata_ [1981]


	4. Chapter 4

"If this theory is right, why can we see the stars?" asked Odo. "Why is there light if they don't exist?"

"That's a good question," said Julian. "I think you have to assume that the evidence of continued existence that's being created has to include light and radiation from the stars, otherwise they'd suddenly appear in the sky as they were created and give the game away. We would have started with no stars at all, wouldn't see any for several years."

"But we already know something isn't right."

"We do," said Sisko, "but does whatever is doing this? Maybe it can only operate this way. Maybe it thinks it's doing its job without realising how much damage this will cause."

"Well yeah," said Dawn, with a look of panic in her eyes, "maybe anything you like, but I think this is nuts. I'm not God's word. If I was I wouldn't have spent so much time running from vampires, I'd be too holy to touch. What if it wasn't your Prophets at all that spoke to us? What if it really was Glory, or maybe, maybe the First Evil. That thing could impersonate anyone who had ever died."

"And had everyone we saw died?" asked Sisko. "I was under the impression that your sister was alive."

"She is, but she's been dead twice, that gave it the power to copy her. It impersonated her a few times, tried to drive Spike insane."

Sisko looked puzzled but said "And the others? Tara, your mother, Xander?"

"Tara's dead, so's mom, it impersonated both of them a couple of times. Uh, Xander's still alive though. At least he was when I left home. Trouble is we know of at least one dimension where he's dead and turned into a vampire. No, couldn't be that, the vampire would have looked younger and had two eyes. But maybe..."

"Let's assume for now that your Xander is still alive. I think that the Prophets are more likely to be the source of our visions, since we were on their home ground."

"Even if they were and even if Julian's right, which I doubt, how does it help us?"

"It doesn't help us," said Sisko, "but it at least gives us the beginnings of an idea that we can test. Even if you're not the creative force our vision suggested, something changed at the moment you arrived. Maybe our universe already existed, in a form that didn't allow warp travel, and what's going on is that the original version is being overlaid by the version you've experienced from your entertainments. We've seen reality shifts just as bizarre caused by powerful entities such as the Q. Maybe your arrival has changed our time line in some way, and a time paradox is causing the problem; we've never come across an effect like this before but who knows what's possible. Whatever the cause, we know more about it now than we did this morning."

"But not enough to be useful."

"Not immediately, but if we take the Prophets literally it seems likely that the answer is inherent in your powers. We just have to work out how to use them."

"Preferably in a way that leaves me alive rather than a drained corpse."

"That would seem to be desirable," Odo said in a dry tone, "It wouldn't do to acquire a reputation for treating our guests poorly."

"I wonder if Worf has any ideas," said Dawn. "Where is he anyway?"

"Organising repairs to the Defiant," said Ezri, "there was a little damage from the fighter attack and he's keen to keep her in top shape and ready for combat."

"But if things are the way we think they are - not saying I agree that you're right - the Dominion can't attack."

"Who said anything about the Dominion?" said Sisko. "There are a dozen Federation and allied warships in dock, there's nowhere for them to go and apparently no chance of anyone from outside interfering, and the crews are already getting restless. I want to be ready for anything from a mutiny to a military coup"

"Oh."

"What I think we need to do now is pool our information about alternate worlds and dimensions, time travel and so forth and see if we can come up with some answers. Miss Summers, given the extraordinary circumstances I'm going to give you unrestricted access to any files you request, excepting military secrets. This breaks the letter of the prime directive, I'm going to trust you not to break its spirit by using any information you acquire to change your own culture."

"Don't worry," said Dawn, "I think my culture's already in enough trouble, I'm not gonna mess with it. Might end up like the guy in 'The Man Who Fell To Earth.'" They gave her the blank looks she was coming to expect. "Never mind, another cultural reference that doesn't work here. Alien guy ends up a prisoner because he knows stuff that we want. Did they make _any_ movies in this dimension?"

"Of course," said Julian, "but from what you've told me we have few in common after the nineteen-sixties or so."

"Ezri," said Sisko, "I'd like you to continue to work with Dawn, help her with any problems she encounters. See if Keiko O'Brien can spare some time to help, she might be better at putting across the theoretical background since Dawn lacks a lot of the context she'll need."

"You mean I'm kinda primitive?"

"Let's just say lacking a modern technical and scientific education. Keiko can probably help you get up to speed, she's worked with students of all ages. Doctor Bashir, I'd like you to see if you can come up with any other theories, or any way we can test the one we already have. Odo, run interference and try to keep things as quiet as possible. Given the Bajoran character I think it might be unwise to give this premature publicity."

"Are you worried that they might hurt me?" asked Dawn.

"Actually I was thinking that they might want to worship you."

"You're kidding."

"Not at all. The Bajorans have a very strong religious tradition which includes worship of the Prophets. As the chosen Emissary of the Prophets I'm in a position to influence the Vadek Assembly, but I can't control them. If word gets out I think it's safe to say that there will be some sort of reaction to your presence; the Assembly will undoubtedly want to send some priests to investigate, the popular response is less predictable. Worship seems a possibility. That or they'll decide that you're a heretic or possessed by a Pah-wraith."

"A Par-what?"

_"Pah_-wraith. An evil spirit, a Prophet gone bad."

"They believe in that?"

"Oh, Pah-wraiths exist, I've encountered them. There's a Cardassian called Gul Dukat who's possessed by one and organised a cult that worships them."

"Okay, possessed bad guy, check, evil cultists, check... suddenly I'm feeling more at home."

"Is that good?" asked Odo.

"Well, let's see... nope. Most of the possessed bad guys I've met have been pretty bad news."

"But they don't scare you, do they?" said Ezri, watching her eyes.

"Not exactly... they can _be_ scary, I've come close to being killed a few times, but any bad guy who deliberately lets something possess him probably didn't start out as the sharpest pencil in the box. As life-style choices go it's kinda terminally stupid."

"Dukat isn't stupid," said Sisko, "He's come close to defeating the Federation on several occasions."

"Since he got possessed?"

"Well... not really, no. He's mostly been trying to destroy the Prophets."

"Any chance he'll succeed?"

"I doubt it. They're immensely powerful."

"See what I mean?"

"Don't underestimate him, he seems to have some long-term plans which we don't understand yet, it's possible that he's closer to success than we realise. He did close the Wormhole for a while."

"Do we have to worry about him anyway? Is he here or on Bajor?"

"Not that I'm aware of."

"Then he won't get here for a few years."

"Wait a minute," said Ezri. "I'm not so sure that's true."

"Why not?" asked Sisko.

"You and Jake once got to Cardassia in a few days without a warp drive, using a solar sailing ship."

"That's right. We found an uncharted tachyon current flowing from this system to Cardassia."

"Could that current be taking this... creation, or whatever it is... to Cardassia?"

"The current certainly crosses the sphere of creation we're envisaging, it goes within a few light-hours of Bajor. If it still exists that might tell us something. If creation is extending along it at tachyon speeds we will know a good deal more."

"How can you find out?" asked Dawn.

"You'll remember what I said about military secrets."

"Sure. And with that little hint I bet I can guess what it is."

"Really?" said Odo, sounding skeptical.

"You're using the current in some way... I don't know, maybe to get spy satellites to Cardassia without them noticing? No, there'd have to be more to it than that, I guess the Cardassians have that route pretty well staked out. You're sending some sort of decoys that way while the real spy satellites go in another way? Or there's more than one type of satellite..."

"Please don't speculate any further," said Sisko, "you're moderately close to the right answer, which I would prefer not to discuss. Suffice it to say that if that channel exists we can probe it."

"If it exists that means that this... whatever... is spreading faster than you thought. Um... are there any other wormholes around here? Maybe it'll go through them too."

"That's certainly a possibility. Let's assume that it will go through wormholes and any other natural route that becomes available as soon as it exists. Let me just reset the simulation accordingly...."

Sisko fiddled with the controls again, then the hologram came back to life. This time the sphere around Bajor was joined by a writhing tube leading to Cardassia, which began to expand at lightspeed. Gradually more spheres and currents appeared, each expanding in turn. It still took more than a hundred and fifty years to cover the Federation and Cardassian territories, five hundred to take in the entire galaxy.

"That's a little better," said Julian, "but even at that speed Bajor and Cardassia would be isolated for the next twenty years or so, and the Cardassian Empire would have a huge advantage in resources."

"I wonder what would happen when one expanding sphere encountered another," said Ezri. "Would they have history in common, or would things be a little different in each bubble of reality?"

"They'd all be linked," said Sisko, "but there's no way of knowing for sure. I'd prefer not to find out."

"I need to get some food," said Dawn, "then I guess I'd better hit the books.. um, PADDs. Unless there's something else?"

"No, that's it, Miss Summers. I think we already have quite a lot to think about. Let's try to find some answers."

* * * * *

"This stuff is really... kinda good," said Dawn, chewing a mouthful of gak and trying to ignore its appearance.

"You don't have to pretend," said Ezri, "I know it's an acquired taste."

Behind them the Klingon chef tended to his pots, watching approvingly as Dawn swallowed and licked her lips.

"Really," said Dawn, picking up another writhing mass, "it looks repulsive, kinda like worms covered in snot, but it tastes kinda like... um, worms covered with snot, but in a good way. A little cheese on top might be nice, but it's good." She closed her eyes, popped it in her mouth, and began to chew.

"Cheese works, but sour cream with garlic and coriander is better, or a lime and chilli dressing. You won't get a Klingon to eat it like that though, they think it ruins the flavour." The Klingon said something emphatic in Klingonese, and Ezri added "He says it tastes like.. well, like something you wouldn't want on your plate."

"Mphh... Yeah, I get that. Lots of people don't like garlic. Vampires too."

"I thought it drove them away."

"You've been reading Dracula, haven't you?"

"It seemed a good reference for the world you described."

"About ten percent of it is true, another twenty percent is true but only applies to Dracula, the rest was Dracula having some fun with Stoker and planting disinformation. I know of at least one vampire that loves garlic. Don't know that any of it is true in this world. How soon do you think we'll hear about Cardassia?"

"I don't have the need to know, but I'd guess several hours. We can't really discuss it in public."

"Okay, I'm about full anyway. Let's go stuff my brains instead."

* * * * *

Four light-hours from Bajor the Defiant dropped to impulse power and fired a spread of football-sized drones into the tachyon stream. Each in turn deployed a circular photon sail a few hundred metres across and a few molecules thick and began to accelerate towards Cardassia. Hours passed.

"Well?" said Worf.

"Just coming up on the barrier now," said the science officer, "current probe speed is approximately warp two point three. If the barrier is where we think it is they'll drop to lightspeed, I guess, otherwise they'll continue to accelerate. Twenty... ten... two... one... Sensors show them instantaneously dropping to lightspeed as they hit the barrier, their instruments think that they're making warp two point four."

_"DenIb Qatlh! Hab SoSlI' Quch!"_ said Worf, then apologised for swearing and ordered the helmsman to return to Deep Space Nine.

* * * * *

"Okay," said Dawn, looking at the screen in her quarters where Julian was bringing up images of strange worlds with Nazi flags and starships with peculiar insignia, "you've got all of these different parallel worlds where people went back in time and changed things, the mirror dimension where everyone's evil, and the dimension that these black and white guys come from, plus the Q Continuum and wherever it is that the Prophets live. Is that the lot?"

"I think so," said Ezri.

"Right. The ones I know about are five or six different hell dimensions, Pylea, Quortoth, the world without shrimp, the world that Cordelia made with a wish, the world she was shown where she never became a seer and oh... the troll dimension. Plus the ones I visited on the way here, but I don't think we can count them because if this stupid theory is right I may have made them."

"What was that about a world made with a wish?" asked Julian.

"It's kinda like your mirror dimension, our world gone bad. A demon tricked Cordelia into wishing that Buffy had never come to Sunnydale, when she did the world changed to make it that way. That meant that Sunnydale was over-run with vampires, Buffy was killed by them when she finally got there. Anya... the demon that granted the wish... lost her amulet and the world changed back, but while the spell lasted that world existed. A while later Willow was tricked into trying to get Anya's amulet back and a vampire version of Willow came out instead. Willow thinks that she pulled her through time from the period while that world existed, before the amulet was broken, but for all we know it went on existing afterwards."

"That sounds like a Hawking bifurcation. A split in the timeline creating two parallel worlds, as you say it would be much like our mirror dimension. I see no reason why it would cease to exist; in fact we know that there are thousands of timeline splits like that every second, each potentially capable of creating a new dimension. Most of them merge together again within seconds, but a small proportion persist. Given a little time each is its own unique world."

"Did the vampire version of your friend resemble her?" asked Keiko.

"I didn't meet her, but from what I was told she was kinda gay... sorry, homosexual... long before Willow was into that scene, and a dominatrix, which wasn't Willow's scene most of the time. But that's pretty normal for vamps."

"Most of the time?" Julian asked with sudden interest.

"She kinda went evil for a few days when Tara was murdered, it was pretty intense."

"Dawn," Ezri asked slowly, "just how many people have you known that have been killed? Have you ever actually seen someone killed?"

"A lot, and yes. Like I said, Sunnydale wasn't exactly a normal place, and we weren't exactly your average residents. Not counting the army that Glory massacred, or the vampires I've seen killed over the years... I guess I've known eight or ten, and seen a couple of dozen. The worse was when I came home and found Tara's body. I sat with it for hours, didn't know that they'd taken Buffy to hospital, didn't think of calling for help."

"That's horrible."

"We were fighting a war. It wasn't one that people knew about, but it was real. It's still going on, of course, but a lot less intense for Buffy and me now that there are so many Slayers."

"If you need any counselling, or any other sort of help..."

"I'm okay. I can't say I'm used to it, hope I never get like that, but I kinda know how to deal. Kinda revolves around eating chocolate chip ice cream and helping the Slayers dust the bastards that are responsible."

The door chimed, and Keiko raised her eyebrows at Dawn. "Expecting anyone?"

"Not really."

"I'll take a look." She checked a small screen by the door, and said "It's Kira and some Bajorans I don't recognise."

"Wonderful," said Julian. "Priests?"

"Priests. Looks like eight or ten of them."

"Is there anywhere we can talk to them?" asked Dawn, "Somewhere like a conference room, so there's room for everyone?"

"I'll organise it," said Ezri, "if you're quite sure it's what you want to do."

"I don't want to, but I want to nip this whole worship thing in the bud, so I'm gonna have to."

* * * * *

"...so the way I see it," said Dawn, looking around the room at some very worried-looking Bajorans, "either this whole thing is a big mistake, a coincidence or some side-effect of my arriving here, or your Prophets called me here for some reason."

"The Prophets called you?" asked Kira.

"If it isn't just a coincidence I don't think I would have come here if they hadn't wanted me to come here and attracted me in some way. Don't get me wrong, I like it now I'm here, I just wouldn't have thought of it for myself."

"Then you don't think you created our universe?" asked one of the priests, a woman in her fifties.

"I don't know. It certainly wasn't something I set out to do, if that's what you mean. Maybe I'm not making this clear, I don't really control the Key. I can kinda tap into its power, enough to move between the dimensions, but I really have no idea if it's a thing or a person, if it's part of me or just something that happens to be in my body, and if it thinks for itself or is some sort of tool. I kinda incline towards that idea, actually."

"A tool?" asked another priest, this one a man.

"It's usually called the Key. To me that suggests it's a tool, rather than a tool-user. Even the thing the Prophets hinted at, the Word, is something that God used, one of his powers, not God himself. Does that seem to make sense?"

Three of the Bajorans began a furious argument, quoting references to prophecies faster than Dawn or Kira could follow. Soon all were shouting, until one of them yelled "Emmissaries 12:12:43: 'and behold the key of the Prophets that opens all doors,'" and the rest fell silent.

"Oh crap," muttered Dawn.

"The Key!" "The Key of the Prophets!" "The Child of the Key!" "The Miracle Child!" "We are not worthy!"

"Chill out, guys," said Dawn. "I'm not claiming to be anything special."

"'Emmissaries 12:12:56," said the oldest priest, "'and the Key knoweth not its nature, but comes amongst them as a child.'"

"Hey, I'm nearly nineteen."

"Blasphemy!" howled one of the female priests. "Emissaries 12:11:07, 'For the Key shall not be born or mortal man or woman,' how can this... this Terran be the Key!"

"Actually," said Captain Sisko, who had come in while the argument was going on, "Miss Summers tells us that she was made magically as a container for the Key, not born. We have reason to believe it may be true."

"The Emissary has spoken!" said the same priest, "Is this true, oh girl who may be the Key?"

"Yeah, it's true," said Dawn, "and how come you're suddenly speaking like a bad history movie?"

"We are speaking classical Bajoran," said Major Kira, "as a sign of our respect, oh Key, and the translation has changed accordingly."

"Speak to us of your wisdom, oh Key," said another priest.

"Will you guys please knock it off!"

"Knock what off what, oh Key," said several voices in near unison.

"Stop talking like that, guys, you're giving me a headache. Just cool it. Even if I am in your prophecies, if our theory about this universe is right they've only been around as long as I have."

"What?" asked the female priest.

"If I made this universe, or was used to make it, your books of prophecy have only been around for a few days. Doesn't matter how old they seem to be. Anything that's written in them must have been created by the Prophets, or whatever used me to create this universe, knowing that I was gonna be here. It doesn't prove a thing."

"Bugger," said the oldest priest, "she's right you know."

"Blasphemer!" shouted another priest. But his heart didn't seem to be in it.

"Are we done here?" asked Dawn. "You want my advice, wait this out. In a few days we'll know one way or another, and I hope that what we'll know is that we've been jumping to silly conclusions. But please don't waste your time asking me about this, because the answer's gonna be the same. I don't _know_ any more than you do, so it's futile trying to solve this before we have all the facts."

The priests argued again, much more quietly, then the oldest priest bowed deeply and said "Truly you have the wisdom that was foretold, oh Key. We will watch and wait." All of the other priests and Kira bowed, and Kira led the delegation out.

"They took that better than I'd expected," said Dawn, "I was worried they'd come to blows. Thanks for speaking up then, the whole Life of Brian thing was kinda wearing."

"Brian?"

"Obscure cultural reference."

"Never mind then, it was my pleasure," said Sisko. "Actually I came here for another reason. Mister O'Brien has come up with an interesting idea that might improve our understanding of the Key. Would you be prepared to participate in a little experiment?"


	5. Chapter 5

"What sort of experiment did you have in mind," Dawn asked warily. "Is it gonna be like the one you just ran?"

"What do you mean?" asked Sisko.

"Come on, Captain. This morning we had no idea of this Omphalos thing, by the end of the afternoon priests are coming out of the woodwork and Odo isn't even around for crowd control. It doesn't add up. I guess they could get here that fast, but I kinda doubt they'd organise it that quickly, or that you'd let them come charging in to see me without any warning. Admit it, we're in a holodeck. My guess is that Ezri put one over on me when we went to lunch, everything since then has been a simulation."

"What a paranoid mind you have, Miss Summers. Do I look like the sort of person that would do something like that?"

"Yeah. Computer, end program." Nothing happened. She looked at him and waited. After a few seconds Sisko shrugged and said "Computer, command authorisation, end program." The briefing room vanished, revealing a holosuite stripped of its illusions.

"See what I mean?" said Dawn. The door opened and Ezri and Julian came in. "So what was the idea?"

"I suppose I should apologise," said Sisko. "After our meeting this morning I began to wonder if you could possibly be possessed by a Pah-wraith. I think I'd recognise one, but the circumstances of your arrival were so bizarre it didn't occur to me earlier. If you _were_ possessed the opportunity to attack the Vedeks, possibly to possess them, would be too good to miss."

"So I test out as wraith-free?"

"There's no easy way to be sure, but I think so."

"The experiment proved one thing," said Sisko, "I was watching you while the meeting was going on. The Key, or whatever it is inside you, seemed to respond to your mood to some extent; it seemed to spin fastest when you were most agitated."

"You handled them pretty well, by the way," said Ezri. "We didn't make it too tough, but all of the religious arguments came from the Bajoran scriptures. When they find out about you the Vadeks will probably ask similar questions."

"You live with a Jewish Wicca for a while, you learn all about religious arguments. Okay, that explains the holodeck. What's the next experiment gonna do, mess me up in the transporter or something?" There was an awkward silence, then Dawn said "Rats. I had to say that, didn't I."

"Statistically the transporter is the safest method of travel..." began Julian.

"Screw statistics. All I know is that about half the episodes I saw had something going wrong with the transporter or the holodeck or both of them together."

"That's an exaggeration," said Julian, "maybe in fiction and urban legends that's true, but there are maybe ten accidents a year throughout the Federation."

"And most of them happen to the people in this room, right?"

"What?"

"Think about it. You all know the statistics and you've all been in transporter and holodeck accidents. Doesn't that strike you as odd?"

"Unlikely, perhaps," said Sisko, "but this station isn't exactly a state of the art facility."

"Don't you get it? Things are that way because they're the way they are in the TV show in my world. What with the original show, Next Generation and Voyager they must have made at least three hundred programs, and whenever they ran out of ideas they'd use a holodeck problem or a transporter accident to liven things up."

"It could explain quite a lot," Ezri said slowly.

"So now do get why I'm not exactly anxious for you to scramble my atoms with the damn transporter?"

"You've already been transported twice," said Sisko, "once when the Defiant rescued you and once when they were trying to get you out of your force field."

"I so didn't need to know that," said Dawn.

"Did anyone ever suffer any permanent damage in any of these accidents?" asked Julian.

"Not any of the main cast, but I'm pretty sure people did get killed."

"Well, could anyone be more 'main cast' than the creator of the universe?"

"That's such a stupid argument it probably makes sense. Okay, what do you want to do anyway?"

"O'Brien's checked the Defiant's transporter logs," said Sisko, "as far as we can tell there was nothing unusual about you when you were transported. But that obviously isn't true, because the logs don't show anything that would account for the Key. It's there, I can see it, but something like that would surely show up on the transporter logs if it was being transported."

"So you think... think what? That it's travelling some other way?"

"Maybe. What we'd like to do is observe you with every instrument at our disposal while you're transported and see if we can detect anything."

"Won't you have to work really fast?"

"I was coming to that..."

* * * * *

"I just want to say one last time," said Dawn, moving to the centre of the transporter pad, "that I really think that this is an incredibly bad idea."

"You're free to say no," said Sisko.

"Okay, no." She paused two beats then said "Only kidding... Sure you don't want to mess with this some more, make this even riskier?"

"Chief O'Brien's double-checked the system," said Julian, looking up from a battery of instruments and computer screens, "it ought to be as safe as any other transporter operation."

"Famous last words."

"Everything's in perfect order, Miss Summers," O'Brien said indignantly, "even if I do say so myself."

"And that's _so_ reassuring. Okay, do it before I lose my nerve."

"Energize," said Sisko. Dawn shimmered, became the outline of a girl made of sparkling white light, and vanished. "Status?"

"Holding her in the transporter buffers," said O'Brien, "no problems so far."

Sisko stared at the stage, and said "It's still there... approximately a metre to the left of the centre of the stage. It seems agitated."

"Scanning," said Julian. "Neutrinos... no. Microwave radiation... no. Tachyons... no. Chronometric radiation... no. Quantum... no... Hello, what's this?"

"Status?" asked Sisko again.

"She's stable," said O'Brien.

"I'm detecting zero point vacuum energy fluctuations, Captain," said Julian, "affecting a volume of space over the transporter pad."

"Can you produce some sort of image?"

"I'll try." He changed several settings and turned one of the screens to face Sisko. It showed a blue computer-generated graphic of something that looked vaguely like three interlocking spiral tornados, rotating and intertwining above the transporter stage. The scale showed it as about a metre high, and floating about a metre above the stage.

"The Key," said Sisko. "Change the colour to green and you'll be seeing what I'm seeing."

"It's... amazing" said Odo.

"The movement seems to be speeding up," said Ezri. "Are any of your readings changing?"

"The vacuum flux has gone up by about thirty percent since I first detected it," said Julian, "fifty... a hundred and twenty... two hundred..." A faint white glow was beginning to appear above the stage, visible to the naked eye. "I'm detecting energy across the spectrum, up to and including gamma and X-rays. Not dangerously high levels yet, but getting there."

"Get her back," said Sisko, "I think we're beginning to annoy it."

"Energizing," said O'Brien. There were the usual transporter effects, and Dawn began to reappear from nothingness on another pad. As she appeared the Key vanished from the first pad and reappeared inside her. O'Brien completed the rematerialisation, and Dawn said "Get on with it before I lose my.. oh. Did you see anything?"

"Show her," said Sisko. Julian swivelled the screen towards her.

"That's the Key?" asked Dawn.

"If it isn't we've even more of a puzzle on our hands..."

"Okay, so... kinda sparkly. Is this me now, or while I was dematerialised?"

"That's approximately a second ago" said Julian, overlaying a transparent image of her material body to give her an idea of its position. "I can't quite give you a real time image, it needs a lot of processing." Dawn raised a hand, watched the image follow her and the Key spinning inside and said "Wow... it's awesome. I wonder if I can get it to do tricks. Any idea what it is?"

"Not a clue. But we know what it's made from, or at least what's powering it. Zero point energy. That's a lot more than we knew an hour ago."

"Wait a second," said Sisko. "Do that again."

"Do what?" said Dawn.

"Hold your hand out away from your body."

"Okay... hey, what's that?" There was something a little like the Key on her arm, a much fainter trace of something spiralling around Dawn's wrist, like a continuous loop of telephone cord made of pale green fire.

"I think it's your bracelet," said Julian. "Whatever powers it resembles the Key."

"That makes sense," said Dawn, staring at the screen, "The Key has to be magical and we know the bracelet is, looks like you've found a way to see magic."

"It seems that we've also found out what magic is," said Sisko. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that it's something we really don't understand very well."

"What is this zero thingy anyway?"

"You've never heard of zero point vacuum energy?" Julian asked incredulously.

"Hello," said Dawn, staring at the image, "not exactly miss twenty-third century here."

"But the concept was known even in your era."

"Not to me it isn't. Can you give me the Reader's Digest version for people who stopped studying physics once they knew how to replace a fuse?"

"What's a fuse?" asked O'Brien.

"Kinda like a circuit breaker only messier."

"I'm sorry I asked."

"Will someone please explain?" asked Dawn.

"Briefly," said Julian, "It's one of the implications of quantum physics. The structure of the universe contains an enormous amount of energy which is always in a state of flux. Think of it as a sea of power. The things we think of as the fundamental building blocks of the universe, the electromagnetic waves, particles, and so forth are just the foam on top of that sea. Beneath thema are enormous depths. Unfortunately all our attempts to tap into it have consumed more power than they've produced."

"Is this like E equals M C squared?"

"Not really. All of that is just the foam. The true power locked into the universe makes everything else look like... like the faintest flash of a firefly compared to a supernova. There's enough energy in a cubic centimetre of space to boil all the oceans on Earth. It's the energy that created the universe and fuelled the big bang."

"So you're saying that the Key taps into it?"

"I think that magic must tap into it. It explains some of the things you describe, which seem to defy conservation of mass and energy. As for the Key... well, I'd have to say that it seems to be made of it. An enormously complex structure made of fluctuations in the zero point energy of space."

"And?"

"And we really don't want to get it mad," said Sisko. "Because if it wanted to it could probably wipe out this entire universe without raising a sweat."


	6. Chapter 6

"The way of the warrior," said Worf, polishing his bat'leth, "is to die with honour and take enemies with you to the gates of Sto-vo-kor."

"Bull," said Dawn, practicing a few thrusts with her new sword and looking around the holodeck, set up as a dojo and practice room, "unless all your enemies are dead the way of the warrior is to stay alive and fighting. 'First rule of slaying,' my sister says, 'don't die.'"

"There is some truth in that, but sometimes honour demands sacrifice."

"Yeah? Who's gonna make sure that the sacrifice is worth it if you aren't around to take care of things for yourself?" She walked over to a practice dummy and tried a few slashes. Straw padding began to shower to the floor.

"Your comrades in arms, of course."

"Okay, maybe that works for you if you're in an army. Do you think this looks a little blade-heavy when my arm's extended?"

"It should work for anyone except those who walk alone. Show me some thrusts, this time aiming a little higher."

Dawn complied, and said "Thing is, until Buffy the Slayers were always alone. No friends, no family, warriors for the higher powers. It got most of them killed before they really knew what they were doing."

"And your sister changed this? Again, this time thrusting for the heart."

"She realised that she was stronger when she was fighting for her family and friends, and when they supported her in the fight," said Dawn, running the dummy through then pulling back for another thrust "She's lasted longer than any other Slayer and these days she isn't alone, there's a whole army of them out there. A few platoons anyway and they're mostly working in teams, all because she realised it was possible. It's changed everything."

"I would say that the weight is towards the hilt, if anything, but there is little in it. Your sister must be a true warrior, it would be an honour to meet her."

"Hmmm... she's a pain in the ass sometimes, but maybe I can bring her here for a vacation once we've worked out what to do about this Omphalos thing. I guess you're right, it's balanced pretty well."

"And the crossbow?"

Dawn sheathed her sword, picked up the bow, cocked and loaded it, and fired a bolt into the heart of the dummy, "It's good. I like the cocking mechanism a lot, don't think they invented anything quite like that on Earth." As she was talking she reloaded and fired again, then tucked the tiny bow into a carrying bag and went over to the dummy to recover the bolts.

"If that is true it may breach the Prime Directive to give it to you."

"Don't worry about it, I've seen something similar used to lock the luggage onto a motorbike. Anyway, how is improving an obsolete weapon gonna contaminate our culture?"

"True. Are you ready for combat practice?"

"I think so."

"Computer..."

A door appeared in one of the walls and opened to reveal Ezri, who said "Dawn, Julian and Miles are ready for you in laboratory five."

"Finally! Okay, Worf, get back to you later. Unless you want to come see the fun."

"It would be my privilege. Computer, end program."

* * * * *

"The idea," said Julian, "is to create a disturbance in the zero point energy, just enough to attract the Key's attention, then try to establish communications with it." He gestured towards a screen where the latest images of the Key could be seen. "We've got the processing time down to a fraction of a second now, you shouldn't really be able to notice the delay."

"I thought you said that you couldn't do anything useful with the energy," said Dawn, as usual fascinated by the ever-changing movement of the Key.

"We can't extract it, but we might just be able to make a little ripple, of a type that isn't normally caused by natural phenomena or our electronics. The readings on your bracelet and the Key itself gave us some clues, and we've put together a... well, I suppose you could call it a zero point radio." He gestured towards a bench covered with electronics modules which O'Brien was still tinkering with. "The range is probably only a metre or two, there's so much energy at that level that we'll be swamped at greater distances. The hissing noise you can hear is a receiver that ought to pick up the same signals."

"What are you going to send it?"

"We'll try counting, prime numbers, that sort of thing, see if anything gets a response, then put the universal translator on-line and hope that we can open up a line of dialogue."

"Is there any danger?" asked Worf.

"I don't think so," said Julian. "We're using relatively small amounts of energy, more would probably be counterproductive. We want to attract its attention, not hurt it."

"Where's Sisko?" asked Dawn.

"He should be along any time, he's just talking to Kira on Bajor. Apparently there's been some trouble there, a pro-isolationist riot."

"Might as well get started without him."

"If you're sure. When you're ready, Miles?"

"Oh, I've been ready since Miss Summers got here, just tidying up a little. I'll try a few number sequences, see where we get to."

On the screen another source of green light appeared, flashed once, went out. It ran through the sequence from one to ten then stopped. It was echoed by buzzing noises from the receiver.

"It didn't seem to be very interested," said Julian. "Either it isn't aware of them or it doesn't know what to make of them. Try something a little more complicated."

"Ascending primes," said O'Brien. "One.. two... three... five... seven.. eleven... thirteen... seventeen... nineteen... twenty-three." Again the receiver buzzed with each signal.

The sound from the receiver changed slightly, becoming an eerie unintelligible whisper. O'Brien fiddled with the controls and put the translator on line, frowning when he couldn't get anything more coherent from the computer. "I don't like the sound of that," said Dawn, "Sounds like... maybe something demonic."

"It could just be random noise," said O'Brien. Slowly it died away.

Julian said "Try that again with a little more power" as Sisko walked into the laboratory.

"Try what?" asked Sisko.

"We heard something when we transmitted primes, but we couldn't translate it. I want to try a higher series with a little more power."

"Dawn, you don't look happy about that."

"The noise we heard, last time I heard something like that was when our house was being haunted by something just after Buffy was bought back from the dead. What was the word Willow used... thaumogenesis, that was it. It's a side effect of really powerful magic, you can actually make these things, kinda ghosts that can only live if they can kill someone."

"Can they be destroyed?"

"Not easily, but if they can't get life-force they fade away eventually. Willow used a spell to solidify it enough that Buffy could kill it."

"Do you think that the transmitter is creating something like that?"

"I don't know, but aren't we thinking that this zero point stuff is what magic is made of? If it's generating raw magic there's no way to tell what could happen."

"Is there any way to defuse something like that? I'd imagine that if you do somehow solve our problem there would be some magical fallout."

"The only way I know of is to make sure that every bit of the left-over magic is used up. You have to use a spell that adapts to the available magic. In Sunnydale that was really difficult, because there was so much of it around, but here I guess it'd be a lot easier."

"Could you do it?"

"I only know half a dozen spells, and most of them are only useful if you're being attacked by demons." She thought for a moment. "Yeah, there's one that's harmless and would work like that."

"What does it do?"

"It's kinda stage magic, conjures something that vanishes again in a few minutes."

"Conjures what?"

"Rabbits."

"You're joking," said Julian.

"Nope. Some old-time stage magician must have stumbled across it, realised he had the ultimate trick up his sleeve. I've seen it done a couple of times, it's really cute. If you like rabbits, that is."

"The situation on Bajor is very serious," said Sisko, "There's a good chance that the isolationists will take power in the next few days if we don't re-establish contact with the Federation. I think we'll have to try communicating again. Can you be ready to cast the spell if things seem to be going wrong?"

"I guess."

"Mister O'Brien, can you vary the settings, perhaps create less of a disturbance at the zero point level?"

"I could try to send the signal as shorter pulses at a lower frequency."

"Very well. Dawn, are you ready?"

"Yeah."

"Proceed, Mister O'Brien."

Miles transmitted a new sequence. On screen it showed as smaller green flashes, picked up as short "beeps" by the receiver. In seconds they were drowned by the same sibilant whispering, much louder than before, and everyone in the room shuddered involuntarily. On screen the Key seemed agitated and a green glow was starting to form near the transmitter, even though the signals had ended. "Something's materialising!" shouted Dawn.

"Miss Summers, your spell please!" shouted Sisko, Dawn yelled _"Bora! Bora! Himble gemination!"_

There was a loud popping noise, then a sound like chugging champagne as hundreds of furry balls showered down onto Chief O'Brien. The whispering stopped abruptly. "It never did that before," said Dawn, picking up one of the balls and absently stroking it. It cheeped and began to purr. So did several hundred others. Worf sneezed loudly and hurried out.

"Tribbles, Miss Summers?" asked Sisko. _"Tribbles??"_

"Don't ask me," said Dawn, "it was the right spell. Guess there were no rabbits around to be conjured."

O'Brien cut the power and began to dig himself out from the mound of tribbles. Sisko sighed, touched his badge, and said "Sisko to security. I want a biological containment team in laboratory five immediately..."

* * * * *

"Well, at least they all vanished," Dawn said defensively, as she sipped an ice cream soda at Quark's bar.

"We started with four hundred and seventy-two," said Julian, "by the time they went there were over five thousand."

"Will Worf be okay?"

"The hives should go in a day or so," said Ezri.

"Maybe I should get him some flowers or something."

"It wasn't your fault, Dawn," said Ezri, "you were warning us not to try it."

"I wasn't sure, but I had a feeling it wasn't going to go well. Guess I was right. Any ideas on what we do now, how we talk to it?"

"Why do you say 'it?'" asked Ezri.

"How do you mean?"

"Well, you told us originally that you were made from the Key, that in effect you are the Key. But more often than not you refer to it as something other, something that's separate from you. It's as if you feel that it's somehow not a part of you."

"Ezri's right," said Julian. "We've been talking that way, but everything you told us about the Key suggests a much closer relationship."

"I guess you're right," said Dawn. "Not sure why..."

"You told us that you learned you were the Key under traumatic circumstances," said Ezri, "your mother was ill, you were being hunted by beings that wanted to sacrifice you, and people who wanted to kill you to prevent the sacrifice. Then your mother died, and your sister was killed undoing the consequences of the Key's activation."

"I guess."

"So all of your early experiences would make you associate it with pain, suffering, and death."

"That's true," Dawn said defensively, "but I think I'm over it now."

"Consciously. Subconsciously, I'm wondering if you might still be suppressing some memories, blocking access to the powers that we're calling the Key. It's obvious that you've some link to them, that you're beginning to learn how to use them, otherwise you wouldn't be here and we wouldn't have this problem. It even seems to know the things that you do and respond to your moods. I think that it's part of you, and that you may be able to do much more if we can get past the trauma."

"What did you want to do, psychoanalyze me?"

"Psychoanalyze? I was thinking more of scanning your mind for blocking engrams, and seeing if there was any way to get past them."

"It's a painless procedure," said Julian, "shouldn't take long if you're prepared to try it."

"What if it... I don't know... unmakes me? I was made from the Key and the monks gave me a lifetime of false memories. Will I stop being Dawn if I remember being the Key?"

"I can't see why that should happen. We wouldn't be taking anything away and I can't see any reason why the spell that made you would be broken, we'd just be adding to your memories."

"After all," said Ezri, "you did set out to look for more information about the Key. This might be the best way to get it."

Dawn sat silently for several minutes, deep in thought, then said "Okay, let's give it a try."


	7. Chapter 7

"I want to be entirely sure you've given your informed consent to this procedure," said Ezri. "I've never heard of it causing medical problems, but there's always a possibility that any memories it releases will be distressing or cause problems for you."

"How does it work?" asked Dawn, sitting in a complex-looking chair in sick bay and eyeing Julian apprehensively as he prepared a tray of instruments.

"Putting it as simply as possible," said Julian, "the neural scanner traces chains of association in your memories, detecting any that seem to stop unexpectedly. It can also identify false memories since they'll be chains that start abruptly. Once we've identified a broken chain we can try to restore it, using nanoprobes to trace the chain and repair it. Removing false memories is more complicated, since you want to keep yours we won't attempt it."

"But I forget things all the time, won't it keep finding stuff like... I dunno... like what I had for breakfast three weeks ago?"

"That's a different type of memory loss. Unless there's a particular reason to remember a meal, the memory of what you actually ate is gradually subsumed into your general preferences for breakfast foods. It doesn't show up as a broken chain."

"Can you do it by date, look for the earliest ones first? We're pretty sure I was made into... well, into me... around the middle of two thousand, so that's where all the false memories would be."

"It isn't quite that easy, it's more a matter of associations and contexts. The equipment doesn't read your thoughts, we don't actually know what the engrams are until they're stimulated and the memories come back to you. But if we find a cluster of incomplete chains that seem to be associated it's likely that they represent a deliberate attempt at erasure or implanted false memories."

"I think I get all that. Okay, you've got my consent to go ahead. What do I do?"

"Just sit back." Dawn sat back in the chair. "There's a low power force-field restraining your head," said Julian, "it won't stop you moving, it's intended to slow any movements to a speed our equipment can handle. If you want to stop the process just sit up, it'll cut off automatically. Would you like to try it?"

Dawn tried to move her head from side to side, then sat up. "That's weird, kinda like the thickening spell I've seen Willow use a few times, then it just went away once I'd moved a little. What now?"

"Just sit back again and rest... that's good. We're beginning to calibrate and trace the engrams, it'll take a few minutes. Would you like to listen to some music?"

"What have you got?"

"Klingon opera, Bajoran chants, some Cardassian g'tonka music, most of the classics back to the eighteenth century or so."

"Any Eminem?"

"Who?"

"Never mind. Dido?"

"Can't see any listings for that name."

"Bay City Rollers?"

"Who?"

"Beatles?"

"Before they broke up or after they got back together?"

"They never got back together."

"Maybe it's one of the differences between our histories."

"In my world they stayed split and two of them are dead."

"Mmm. That's a shame. I rather liked 'Helter Skelter.'" Dawn giggled. "What's so funny?"

"Spike told me once that Adam liked 'Helter Skelter.'"

"Adam?"

"The half-demon cyborg I told you about. How do you know the Beatles anyway?"

"Their early music is sometimes used to set the scene in the holodeck programs I play, I got interested and listened to some of their later work. Hmm... that's fast, I think we have our first broken memory chain."

"What happens now?"

"I'll insert a nanoprobe, it'll seek the remainder of the chain and restore the connection. It's painless, but to do it I'll have to immobile your head completely for ten seconds or so. Are you happy with that?"

"No, but do it." The force field intensified, holding Dawn's head rigid while Julian touched a stubby cylindrical instrument to her temple. Seconds passed, then Dawn felt its grip slacken.

"It'll probably take fifteen or twenty seconds to make the connection. When it does you'll probably see or feel something related to the memory."

"No, there's... oh!" Dawn sat up, clutching her stomach, gasping and retching.

"What was it?" asked Ezri.

"I'm not sure... I think... I think it was my first breath. My first moment as a human. Feeling my body, with most of my senses gone, everything so limited. A huge sense of loss."

"Limited?"

"I.. I can't explain it. Like I was struck deaf, dumb, and blind, and stuffed into something that could barely move."

"They must have made you, then erased that memory and replaced it with the false memories of your earlier life."

"If you can lie back again," said Julian, "I can continue to trace that engram chain, see if we can find anything prior to the change."

"Okay." Dawn lay back, her breathing a little ragged. Julian eyed the diagnostic screen behind her chair and said "Would you like something to calm you a little? Your pulse is racing."

"No... I think I want to keep a clear head."

"It won't affect your ability to think clearly, it'll just suppress extreme emotional states."

"Forget it, I'll manage without."

"If there's another reaction that extreme we'll have to stop. I'm not going to risk your health."

"Just do it."

"When you've rested for a few minutes."

* * * * *

"Let's hope that this one's more interesting than the last five," said Dawn. "I really didn't need to remember the pain of breaking my arm in that car crash, or the day my skirt got caught in the door in front of the football team."

"I think you suppressed that one for yourself," said Julian, inserting another nanoprobe. "As for the arm, I should have warned you that severe trauma might show up as a broken chain."

"It's okay. When will... holy crap!"

"What's wrong."

"I remember."

"What do you remember?"

"Everything," said Dawn, sitting up again. Behind her the diagnostic panel burned out in a shower of sparks, while the screen of the neural scanner turned milky white. "Everything," Dawn repeated. "Better get Sisko down here fast, there are decisions to be made."

"Decisions?" asked Julian, then got a closer look at Dawn's face and hastily made the call. She was crying and her tears were glowing with green fire.

* * * * *

"What's the..." began Sisko as he came in, then saw Dawn and said "Oh."

"Memory's back," said Dawn. "I'm back."

"As the Key." He stared at her, seeing the green helices swirling around the girl, a complex whirl of hypnotically repetitive movement. It was obvious that Julian and Ezri could see something of it too.

"You got it. Just needed to fix a few memories and I was there."

"So what are you?"

"The guys in the wormhole were kinda right, I'm not just a key. I'm the key, the lock, the lock factory, the place where they make the doors.. you get my drift?"

"The Word."

"It's a way of putting it. Not exactly right... it's like I'm a facet of something larger than you can imagine, than anyone can imagine. The Word doesn't begin to cover it."

"Are you still Dawn?" asked Ezri.

"Kinda... Yeah. Dawn plus a lot. I think I'm gonna stay human, most of the time, material bodies are kinda fun, but that's not a problem. Keeping things under control, that's more of an issue. I'm gonna have to be careful and fix my messes. Starting with this one."

"You've found a solution?" asked Sisko.

"I've got three. You won't like them, but you need to choose one."

"Me?"

"You command this place, you're the Emissary and speak for the Prophets, and there isn't time to organise a vote on Bajor. Right now the universe is small, I can still work with it as a whole. Give it a few more hours and it'll be too late, it'll be stuck the way it is."

"So what are the choices?" asked Sisko, trying to stay calm.

"The first one's easy. Do nothing, and accept that things are gonna be bad for a good few years to come."

"Not an option I like."

"The second one's easy too. I undo this creation."

"You undo it?"

"It's a mess. Universes aren't supposed to be like this, it should have been created long before there were people to live in it, you shouldn't have to face knowledge like this. So I wipe the slate clean. It never happened, it never existed, it was always a work of fiction." Her voice was dreadfully calm.

"And that's _easy?_ The death of billions of people is _easy?_"

"Easy to do. I didn't say I liked the idea. But I wouldn't be destroying you, I'd be cancelling your creation. You would have never existed."

"No," said Sisko, echoed by Ezri and Julian.

"Thought you wouldn't go for it. That leaves number three."

"Which is?"

"A makeover. I start again, this time back a few gigayears ago with a real big bang, set the ball rolling properly. When time catches up with here and now it'll be the universe it's supposed to be."

"So what's the snag?"

"I can't guarantee how well it'll work. I can steer things quite a lot, and I'll make it so that it's gonna end up the way I remember it from the TV show, but there's always free will. I'm pretty sure that there'll still be a Federation, and that the broad situation will still be the same, but I can't guarantee that every last detail will be exactly the way it was before I arrived."

"For example?"

"For example any one of you might be dead, you guys take too many risks."

Sisko turned to Julian and Ezri. "Do either of you see a better alternative?"

"No," said Julian, "Centuries of chaos or non-existence? At least this way we stand a chance of getting back something like normality."

"Ezri?"

"No contest. We have to do it this way."

"I agree." He turned back to Dawn, and began to ask another question, but she was gone. So, soon, were they.

* * * * *

In the beginning...

Energy springs from nothing, and the universe begins to expand. Microseconds pass... seconds... days... millennia... slowly the expanding energy cloud begins to form subatomic particles, atoms, molecules, gas clouds, stars and planets. Always there, always guiding it, the Key.

Billions of years pass, and the conditions for life emerges on countless worlds, but the first primordial space-faring race finds itself alone. They resolve to sow their seed, suitably modified for each world, wherever it has a hope of surviving. Eventually their distant decedents are Klingon and Romulan, Vulcan and Terran, Ferengi and Cardassian, thousands of other races. Invisibly the Key continues to guide the process.

Eventually...

Jadzia Dax was tired when she came off shift, but decided to stop at Quark's bar and catch up with her friends before heading home. The bar was crowded with Klingons from the _Glorious Slaughter_; she bought a drink then looked around for a seat, eventually spotting one at a table where Julian was chatting to a stranger, an attractive young Terran woman wearing fashionable Bajoran silk clothing. She made her way over, exchanged friendly insults with a few Klingons who knew her in one or another of her incarnations, and said "Anyone sitting here?"

"Help yourself," said the stranger, "Sorry it's a little cramped but I've gotta go soon, that'll make room." Her eyes widened slightly as she saw Jadzia, but neither of them noticed.

"Miss Summers," said Julian, "this is Jadzia Dax. Jadzia, Miss err... Dawn Summers."

"Pleased to meet you," said Dawn. "Say, do you know a Tril named Ezri... now what was her last name?"

"Ezri Tigan?" asked Jadzia.

"I think so. You know her?"

"She's been through the station a couple of times, I think she's serving aboard a hospital ship right now. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, we met a while ago and I thought we kinda hit it off, I doubt that she'd even remember me but if she comes through again say 'hi' for me."

"Of course," said Jadzia. "Travelling to Bajor?"

"Passing through," she sipped at her mug of raktajino and added "on my way back to Earth. Wanted to see how some friends were getting on, do some shopping, that sort of thing."

"What brings you so far out of Federation space?"

"Long story," said Dawn, "Long, long story. I was kinda trying to find myself. Only when I did it turned out I'd been there all along. You know what they say, 'wherever you go, there you are.'"

"It happens," said Jadzia, vaguely wondering what she was talking about.

"That's a Buddhist saying, isn't it?" asked Julian.

"Wouldn't know," said Dawn, "I just picked it up somewhere."

"How are your friends, is the war causing problems for them?"

"No worst than anyone else, I guess, but it was like they didn't know me." she sounded a little sad. "Guess I shouldn't have expected anything else."

Worf came into the bar; Jadzia waved, then realised that there was nowhere for him to sit. Dawn followed her glance and said "Friend of yours?"

"My husband."

"Sounds like my cue to vacate this seat. I really ought to be leaving anyway, I've gotta fly." She picked up a shoulder bag from the floor, smiled at Worf, then went to the bar. Jadzia noticed her give Quark some strips of Latinum, collect a bulky back-pack from the cloakroom, then leave.

"Seemed like a nice person," Jadzia said after kissing Worf.

"I suppose so," said Julian, "to be honest I wasn't paying much attention, I've been thinking about procedures for some of the injured Klingons that came in on the _Glorious Slaughter_."

"Theirs is the honour of battle," said Worf.

"That's one way of looking at it. I've got to patch them up, and I can think of better ways to describe it."

"Why are you here then?" asked Worf.

"I've done all I can for today, they need to sleep and recuperate before the next round of treatment. Don't worry, they're in good hands."

"Of that I have no doubt. Captain Sisko mentioned that she is pleased with the progress you have already made, she was reading your report when I came off duty."

Quark came over with a tray holding two large glasses and a deep beaker of brown liquid.

"We didn't order this," said Worf.

"The young lady did," said Quark, "said she'd known a Trill that liked this stuff." He put the tray down on the table.

"What is it?" asked Jadzia.

"Peanut butter cookie ice cream for you and the doctor," said Quark, "and a large prune juice for Worf." He went back to the bar.

"That's uncommonly nice of her," said Julian. "Can't have been cheap."

"This is gorgeous," said Jadzia, tasting a spoonful. "Can't believe I've never heard of it before. Ezri Tigan must have mentioned liking it."

"The drink of warriors!" Worf said enthusiastically, sinking his juice.

"I wonder how she knew you'd like it," said Julian. "It's not exactly a common Klingon beverage."

"Don't tell me," said Jadzia, "you think she's a beautiful spy who's softening us up?"

"Just because I like to play spy games on the holodeck... of course I don't, she's just a nice girl, must have asked Quark what Worf likes."

"Of course she did. It's a shame she couldn't stay longer, it made a pleasant change to talk to someone relatively normal."

"Are you implying I'm abnormal?" asked Julian.

"If the cap fits..."

Several million miles away something green and intangible flashed through the minefield and into the wormhole, going home.


	8. Epilogue

"...so these are the choices, your Highness," said Dawn. "I can leave things as they are, erase this world completely, or start over and build this universe properly, so that it ends up pretty much the same except that the stars in the sky will be real."

"What a horrible choice," said Glinda. "Obviously there's only one answer, to leave things as they are. Because for everyone here the third choice is the same as the second. We cease to exist."

"I know," Dawn said sadly. "It doesn't really matter here anyway, it's not gonna change much if the stars are just lights in the sky. You don't have starships."

"What about Sky Island?"

"Oh, it exists already. It isn't that far from the world."

"That's settled then. Now tell me something, child, why are you so unhappy?"

"The other world I made, the space station.... they made the third choice."

"Why would anyone..." There was a look of horror on Glinda's face. "Did you explain it to them properly?"

"I thought I did, but maybe I was wrong. You see, in the stories that gave me the idea for that world they were always messing around with time, they thought that if someone made changes it was okay, provided that the same people existed in the new world."

"And that isn't true?"

"It isn't that simple, but the short answer is no. If you change the past you change the present. Say I went back ten minutes and interrupted this meeting; the Glinda that exists now would just cease to exist. There'd be another Glinda in the new world, of course, but it wouldn't be you. She'd have the same memories, up to ten minutes ago, but she'd be a different person.

"But you said it was more complicated than that."

"Sometimes changes can split time in two, making two dimensions. Say there's one world where I interrupted the meeting, another where I didn't. The Glinda in each world would be a different person. Or if there's a really minor change it can cause a temporary split, with the timelines merging back together. When that happens there's only one person, with a feeling that something's a little off."

"I think I understand," said Glinda, "but you didn't just make a change to their world."

"No. That was much more drastic. You see, that world was going to suffer without starships. They didn't have the reseources they needed to keep their civilisation going and the nearest world with technology was Cardassia. They would have been wide open for invasion by the time Cardassia became real, then the Cardassians could have just kept on expanding their empire. It would have been a nightmare for everyone there. But I was so desperate to fix the problem that I didn't make sure they'd really thought it through. I didn't just change the past, I cancelled their universe completely and made another."

"Oh my goodness.... Were there many people there?"

"A couple of billion before, countless trillions after I made the change. Most of the people that were in the bubble I made ended up pretty much the same in the new universe."

"But you killed them."

"They never existed... the small version of that universe never existed... but yes, effectively I killed them. I checked up on my friends afterwards, they were all there but they didn't know me. How could they? They weren't the same people. Looked like them, mostly, spoke like them, but they weren't the same."

Glinda's face was a frozen mask of horror. "I think that you had better leave now. My guards will escort you to whichever portal you feel will lead to your home."

"But..."

"Good afternoon, Miss Summers. You are no longer welcome in Oz."

"Okay. I get that. I'm sorry, I guess I shouldn't have come here with their blood on my hands." She turned to leave.

Dawn was nearly at the door when Glinda said "One moment."

"Yes?"

"One last question. Did you know in your heart what you were doing?"

"I guess so. Well, kinda."

"As I thought. You shared their odd view of time?"

"I had nineteen years of memories of being human, all of that time Star Trek was on TV, and I was kinda rusty on being the Key. Nineteen years human, before that hundreds of years in a monastery without using my powers. I think... I think it wasn't until I'd re-started creation that I had time to consider things, and what I'd done didn't really sink in until I realised that nobody knew me."

"Intentions count for much, Miss Summers. You may stay, and visit this world again if you wish. I make only one stipulation, that you visit as Miss Summers, not as the Key."

"No. Thanks, but no. You don't need me around rocking the boat, and I can tell that what I did is still upsetting you. I think it's better if I don't come back."

"As you wish. Bon voyage then."

"Thanks, your highness. And thanks for helping me think it through."

** _End_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought I'd finished this story at the end of the last chapter, but several comments made it obvious that I hadn't made the full ramifications of Sisko's choice clear enough. Even "ordinary" time travel must effectively create a new universe whenever someone changes the past; in this story Dawn really is destroying the universe and putting another in its place. It looks like the same universe, and has what appear to be the same people in it, but they are _not_ the same. My apologies that this wasn't clearer in the previous chapter.
> 
> Thanks to Don Sample for an excellent review (on fanfiction.net) which helped to persuade me that this chapter needed to be written, and to others who have commented on this aspect of the story.


End file.
